''Amícus saga ok Amílius'' is a medieval Icelandic

romance saga The ''riddarasögur'' (literally 'sagas of knights', also known in English as 'chivalric sagas', 'romance-sagas', 'knights' sagas', 'sagas of chivalry') are Norse prose sagas of the romance genre. Starting in the thirteenth century with Norse tr ...

. Probably from the fourteenth century, it was translated from

Vincent de Beauvais Vincent of Beauvais ( or ; ; c. 1264) was a Dominican friar at the Cistercian monastery of Royaumont Abbey, France. He is known mostly for his ''Speculum Maius'' (''Great mirror''), a major work of compilation that was widely read in the Middle ...

's ''Speculum historiale'', probably during the reign of

Haakon V of Norway Haakon V Magnusson (10 April 1270 – 8 May 1319) (; ) was King of Norway from 1299 until 1319. Biography Haakon was the younger surviving son of Magnus the Lawmender, King of Norway, and his wife Ingeborg of Denmark. Through his mother, ...

, and tells a similar story to the related French romance ''

Amis et Amiles ''Amis et Amiles'' is an old French romance based on a widespread legend of friendship and sacrifice. In its earlier and simpler form it is the story of two friends, one of whom, Amis, was sick with leprosy because he had committed perjury to sa ...

''. The saga survives in only one manuscript, Stockholm, Royal Library Perg 4to nr 6 (ca 1400). The saga has enjoyed extensive critical discussion.Marianne E. Kalinke and P. M. Mitchell, ''Bibliography of Old Norse–Icelandic Romances'', Islandica, 44 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985), pp. 23-24.

Editions and translations

* Kolbing, Eugen, ed. "Bruchstuck einer Amicus ok Amilius saga", ''Germania'', XIX (N.S. VII, 1874), 184–89.

References

Chivalric sagas Icelandic literature Old Norse literature {{Iceland-saga-stub